Communism’s Rejection of God. True Equality and Justice in Scripture. - Highlight: Episode 344

The guys discuss the rise of communism through Karl Marx’s ideas, highlighting its roots in atheism and its flawed view of human nature. They emphasize that while communism aims for equality, it rejects God’s sovereignty and replaces the gospel with a counterfeit hope. The guys point out that socialism often serves as a stepping stone to communism, but no true communist society has existed because power, when godless, leads to corruption. They also acknowledge that capitalism has its flaws and caution Christians against defending it without examining it through a gospel-centered lens. Ultimately, they stress that neither capitalism or communism can fix the human condition—only Jesus can. The gospel, rooted in love and personal responsibility, is the only true answer to society’s brokenness.

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Ray Comfort
Emeal (“E.Z.”) Zwayne
Mark Spence
Oscar Navarro

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
But, ray, as far as communism goes, it goes beyond
economics Just slightly.
First of all and I'd like us todiscuss this communism's
rejection of God.
That's huge, you know, in itsMarxist-Leninist form it's
basically built on an atheistic,if you can even call it a

(00:21):
worldview.
There's debate on that.
But basically it's built onatheism and Karl Marx is
credited with that famous sayingthat religion is the opium of
the people, or the masses.
Opiate, opiate, opium, opiate.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
Yeah, communism seeks to imitate Christianity in that
sense, because you look at thebook of Acts, where they had all
things in common, but it wasgiven willingly, motivated by
love, and what communism does iswe're going to share everything
.
You're rich, so you're going todie so we can get you goods,
and that's what happens.
Atheistic communism has beenresponsible for more than 100

(00:57):
million deaths down through theyears, so it doesn't work
because it's tainted by sin asOscar was saying, yeah, yeah,
yeah, and Mark this desire to beliberated from God.

Speaker 3 (01:12):
That's okay.
Let's start right there.
Right, because I would make thecontention and the argument
that communism didn't begin withKarl Marx.
It began in the garden.
Right, where we see Adam andEve attempting to go away from
God, and it says the earth isthe Lord's and the fullness
thereof, the world and those whodwell therein.

(01:32):
Right, so man tried to seizethat which belonged to God.
I know better than God.
I want what belongs to God,right?
And to Ray's point, as Ray'stalking about really a
capitalistic society as well,and you think about it in Acts
5-4, while it remained unsold,did it not remain your own?

(01:55):
And after it was sold, was itnot at your disposal?
Right, so Scripture wouldaffirm to private property that
God does not desire a forcedredistribution of goods.
Right, we're saying it's thegovernment's responsibility to
take care of the homeless.
It's the government'sresponsibility to take care of

(02:15):
my health.
It's the government's—no, no,no.
This is where really nonprofitorganizations come in by and
large, which were a big piece ofthe pie, coming from religious
organizations, from hospitalsbeing founded to anything else.
Or you think of American RedCross, you think of the
Salvation Army, having theseChristian foundations saying we

(02:40):
are overflowing with good works,and that's what the Christian
does when somebody has thisparadigm shift and moves from
darkness into light.
They want to be rich in goodworks.
They can't just pass somebodyby.

Speaker 2 (02:53):
The essence of communism is that it rejects
God's authority, and I love that.
The way the Ten Commandmentsbegin I am the Lord, your God.
That phrase, I am the Lord,your God is used over 400 times
in Scripture and it's reallygood to understand what it means
.
It means I am the Lord, thesovereign authority, the one
you're going to answer to yourGod.

(03:16):
I'm your creator.
So Richard Dawkins has a God.
God is his God, his creator.
Every atheist has a creator,but he's not their lord, and you
see it consistently throughscripture you shall love the
lord your god with all yourheart, mind, soul and strength,
and we see this the gospel,appearing in the words of thomas

(03:36):
when he knelt before jesus andsaid my lord, and my god, and
that's the essence of what aChristian is.
They take on the Lordship ofChrist, and one day the whole of
humanity will bow to theLordship of Jesus.
Every knee will bow.

Speaker 3 (03:51):
So the gospel makes some generous people.
And when you remove the gospelwhich is typically what a
communistic society is going todo, you're going to remove
Christ from the picture, you'regoing to remove the only hope
for a society.
And the only hope for a societyto Oscar's point is the gospel.
So the answer is notnecessarily a socialistic

(04:13):
society, it's not a capitalistic, it's not a communistic society
.
The only hope is the gospel.
And this is so importantbecause we get sidetracked,
thinking that our battle is inWashington.

Speaker 1 (04:25):
DC.

Speaker 3 (04:25):
Our battle is in local authorities who are going
to set up laws, and I'm notsaying don't vote.
Obviously, for those that arelistening, I'm not swinging to
the other side of the pendulumand you don't either.
I'm simply saying thateverything we do and everything
we interpret and everything wewatch has to go through a
gospel-centric lens.
Why am I doing what I am doing?

Speaker 4 (04:46):
I love what you said, mark, and you're absolutely
right the answer to socialism,communism, is not capitalism.
You see the cracks, you see theimperfections, and I think
where socialism slash capitalismstarts is a longing for
something good, a longing forjustice, a longing for equality,
a longing for a world wherethere's none in poverty, where

(05:09):
there's none being oppressed.
But ultimately, your ultimatehope is in politics and not in
the Prince of Peace, and my pleato anybody who's buying into
any of these ideologies is thatyou cannot have heaven on earth
without the cross.
We've tried it before.

(05:30):
We've tried it in Babel.
We tried bringing down utopia.
It started in the Old Testament.
We've tried it in Russia, we'vetried it in the United States,
we've tried it all over theMiddle East.
You cannot have heaven withouta cross, and the more we try to
do that, the more we fail.
So while communism aims forjustice, it aims for justice

(05:50):
without a redeemer, and thegospel calls for justice through
a redeemer.
No political vision can save us.
Only Christ can save us.
And we can get into the detailsabout you know like.
Again, as I said earlier, thescriptures give us a rubric to
critique all man-made structures, including capitalism,

(06:12):
socialism, communism,libertarianism.
God's economy is like this it'sprovision over profit that's
capitalism.
But it's also provision overpower that's communism.
In other words, in God'seconomy we have justice and
mercy and beauty and goodness.
But what you long for will nothappen through policies and

(06:38):
politicians.
It will only happen when Jesuscomes back and brings heaven
with him.

Speaker 2 (06:45):
Just while you guys were talking, I was thinking
what I would say if I had theprivilege to go to some of these
angry universities that justspend nothing but day in, day
out protesting their angeragainst, basically, america and
capitalism.
What would I say if I wentthere?
And I thought it would beinteresting, because all I want
to do is preach the gospel, andthat because of their background
atheistic and evolution, etcetera.

(07:08):
However, when we talk about thegospel, what we're saying is
Jesus came to save us from thewrath, to come, and as fruit of
the gospel there is love, andit's so simplistic sounding, but
love is the answer to everydilemma of humanity.
You shall love the lord, yourgod, with your heart, mind, soul
and strength, and love yourneighbor as yourself.
If humanity could do that,there'd be no rape, no murder,

(07:34):
adultery, no fornication, notheft, no lawyers, no judges, no
prisons.
Everything that we live forwould just be cast aside because
we'd have utopia.
But humanity cannot do thatbecause it doesn't have the love
that we need.
I mean, there's a rock groupcalled the Beatles from years
ago that sung All we Need IsLove.
And that was just before theirbitter breakup.

(07:55):
And then the hippies that justsaid Love, love is all you need,
same thing.
And then you get the CharlesManson come in and you just see
the whole thing tainted and thatresulted in the Jesus
revolution where people come toknow the Lord.
But love is the answer.
It really is.
And that's the fruit of thegospel and that's why we need to
preach the gospel to get peoplesaved by God's grace from the

(08:15):
wrath to come and to bring asociety that's tolerable until
the coming of Christ.

Speaker 1 (08:22):
Yeah, you know, I was recently in a communist country
.
You guys know I went to Cuba andI saw firsthand the ravages of
communism in terms of itssystematic, I think,
deterioration of a society, ofits systematic, I think,
deterioration of a society, andthe believers there.
It wasn't like I went and I justkind of observed, but the

(08:42):
believers there told us I thinkthe average income is like $7 a
month right now there.
So I got to see firsthand justthe destruction, I think, of
communism and again, not justbecause of its economic policy,
but all these other things we'retalking about.
We didn't even get into thedestruction of the family
structure because the statetakes over that.
We didn't get into the creationof envy and class warfare and

(09:07):
the danger of centralized powerand things like that, of
centralized power and thingslike that.
But, man, you know, what wasthe most beautiful thing Was
watching these believers thrivein the midst of that, because
they treasured Christ.
You guys remember I talkedabout how I got up and I said
the church in Cuba is alive, thechurch in Cuba is powerful, the

(09:28):
church in Cuba loves Jesus.
And then they exploded amen.
And they're not letting it stopthem.
Yeah, there are repercussions,but they keep pushing and
pushing to where the governmentis even stepping back and going.
Wow, these people are actuallyhaving good impact in our
society.
So I know that there arebrethren right now living in
communist countries who arelistening to our voice, and we

(09:50):
just want to encourage you toknow that you are loved by your
brethren here in the UnitedStates of America, that we care
for you, that we're standingwith you, that we're praying for
you and, in keeping with whatMark said, they cannot take
Christ from you.
And so treasure him, cling tohim and love them with the

(10:12):
gospel, make the gospel known,because the true hope for every
nation is the gospel.
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